Q and A: Week of June 27
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| Leeza on Dancing with the Stars (credit ABC) |
A: Leeza, 54, recently married her beau of almost three years, Steven Fenton. The former longtime “Entertainment Tonight” host — who hosts the PBS show “My Generation” — will be back on daily TV this fall on the syndicated program, “America Now,” with Bill Rancic. On Sept. 12 she joins the half-hour daily news program, which will deliver short segments of timely information covering lifestyle topics like health, beauty, finance, family and home. Check your local listings as the premiere date gets closer, and check back here in mid-July to read my full interview with the gorgeous newlywed.
Q: I too am a longtime Don Johnson fan and would love to see him on the screen again — any screen. Since his pilot “Mann’s World” wasn’t picked up, do you know if he has anything else in the works? — Whitney A., via e-mail
A: If you haven’t already seen his turn on this past season’s “Eastbound & Down” as Kenny Powers’ father, Eduardo Sanchez, then you first and foremost must watch that. Then head over to Will Ferrell’s comedy website, funnyordie.com, and check out Don’s hilarious short, “Four Loko Vineyards.” Then you’ll need to wait a little while to see him in the thriller, “Vineyard Haven,” which is set for a spring 2012 release, where Don plays an eccentric writing professor who wedges himself between a couple in distress.
Q: I finally saw the Sylvester Stallone shoot-’em-up extravaganza, “The Expendables,” on DVD the other night. The movie was actually a lot of fun, and I was surprised to have enjoyed it so much. I also noticed that the ending left it open for a possible sequel. Could there be plans for one? — Jessica R., Hamilton, Ohio
A: You know it! The movie took in $266 million worldwide, so you can bet Sly and company want to cash in on this particular cash cow. All of the original “good guys” are rumored to be returning for the sequel, which is set for an August 2012 release. There’s no word yet on whether ex-California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to make another cameo (or perhaps a larger role this time?) in the sequel.
READERS: Thanks to all who entered Celebrity Extra’s summer of contests. Congrats to Steven S., Aaron B., Anthony S., Jennifer B. and Tiffany R., who each won an autographed CD of Rachel Fine’s debut CD, “Own Your Own.” Chris C., Frank G., David D., Alicia W., and Rita R. all won a copy of Barton Seaver’s cookbook, “For Cod and Country.” And last but not least, congrats to Kary S., who won the “True Blood” season three DVD set.
Interview: Timothy Hutton and the Leverage Team Are Back
"Leverage" is back on TNT this Sunday night at 9 p.m. ET/PT for its fourth and most exciting season yet. I know, I know — everyone always says that. However, having seen the season-premiere episode in all its epic, snow-bound glory, I can vouch for that claim of viewer excitement. The season opener has our favorite con-artist team trekking to a winter wonderland to help a woman whose husband (guest star Eric Stolz) has disappeared and who might be a victim of foul play. I spoke with series star Timothy Hutton about the show's new season, and he is just as excited as I am for fans to see what the Leverage team has been up to, and where they are going from here.
Celebrity Extra: After watching the season four opener, I am freezing just thinking about it! What was the filming like for that episode?
Timothy Hutton: It was an amazing experience. Everybody arrived from their different places: Dean Devlin from L.A. along with Beth Riesgraf and Aldis Hodge, and Christian Kane from Nashville, and Gina Bellman from London, and myself from New York — everyone arrived in the Portland, Oregon, area. Then we all got on the shuttle buses and arrived in Mount Hood, and that’s where we started the year — filming for three days during a blizzard up on Mount Hood. Between a lot of snowball fights, we managed to get some filming in.
CE: "Leverage" episodes in general are adventures, but this one really is epic. Were you excited when you read the script and found out what it would entail?
TH: Yeah, like you just said, I really feel the same way, that each episode is quite the adventure. We’re in the fourth season now and we’ve done, I think we just passed the 50th episode, 51 or 52 episodes I think we’ve completed. Every one of those scripts we still, to this day, get excited when the writers give us the draft of the next episode. We get to read a new "Leverage" script. We love reading them, and we love bringing the scripts to life. It’s just a lot of fun.
CE: And that shows, because they are a lot of fun to watch.
TH: Absolutely, and for people who haven’t seen the show, it’s a very easy show to come in on. It’s not like you have to go back and see it from the beginning. It’s a fun show to kind of catch on to even if you haven’t seen it before.
CE: When you were approached with the role of Nathan Ford back in 2008, what made you decide to accept the role?
TH: I thought it was an interesting challenge, because of where the character started out. He started with next to nothing. He lost his son, his wife, his job and couldn’t be really much worse off — he certainly could, but he was in pretty bad shape — and he gets involved in this job putting together this Leverage team. It starts to become a climb back, a way to get his life back and find himself, find his own center. I thought that was a great way to start. They wouldn’t give a lot of restrictions, because he was so dysfunctional and in such dire straits.
There weren’t a lot of restrictions about how the character could be played, how he would react to certain situations. It was wide open. He was so messed up that situations that were serious, he might find amusing. And situations that were amusing, he might be the one that found it serious. So there were endless possibilities how to play a character like that, because the character was so lost. How the guy gets back to surviving on a day-to-day level, and I think that the other characters, the other people in Leverage, become kind of his family almost, and he finds a way to be able to get his life back in order in some ways. I also felt like I never wanted him to get it together too much, because then we wouldn’t have a character. We wouldn’t have a show.
CE: I love the chemistry between you and the actors on your team – you actually seem like you are having fun. What is the mood on the set and how is it to work together?
TH: The mood is very light on the set, and we’re always playing jokes on each other. When the day starts and everybody’s arriving at work at 6 a.m., you can just tell that everybody as a person is happy to be there. Monday through Friday, every morning, people are greeting each other and asking if they had a good night the night before, and how are they today. It’s just a very pleasant work environment. As I said, we just kind of keep things light, and I think it shows in the episodes.
CE: You guys have had some great recurring and guest stars, like Eric Stolz, Jeri Ryan, Wil Wheaton and Goran Visnjic – any guest stars for season four you can give me the scoop on?
TH: Well, we’ve been very fortunate to have some amazing actors come in to the show. Like when Eric Stoltz came and did the first episode, everyone was very excited. You feel kind of honored to have somebody who’s work you’ve admired coming to do the show. Even if you’re not working that particular scene, everyone comes to the set to watch. That’s nice to be in the fourth season and to have that kind of spirit, that kind of camaraderie, it's quite nice.
We had just done an episode with Danny Glover, and people that had days off came to the set just to be able to watch him work, and say hello to him and welcome him to the set. It just lifts everybody’s spirits every day when you have these amazing people. I must say that the actors who live in and around the Portland, Oregon, area are just incredible. There’s a talent pool there, and we’re just scratching the surface. There are amazing, amazing actors there.
CE: What can you tell me about season four and how the characters’ personal relationships will develop?
TH: Well, there’s certainly going to be developments with the Nate/Sophie relationship. Them trying to figure out who they are together and what they want with or from each other. That’s certainly something that’s explored in season 4, as well as the Parker/Hardison relationship. There are interesting twists and turns that happen there.
The other thing about this season that the Leverage team is being watched very closely. They are being hunted by certain people who would like them to stop doing what they are doing. So they’re a little bit on the run, and they’re being watched, and they realize they are being watched. It adds a nice element of danger to season four, where they’re not just independent free agents who can move about freely and take down bad guys. They do that, but they’re doing it at quite big risks, because they know that someone is out to get them.
CE: As you look back on the first three seasons, what have been some favorite moments or episodes for you?
TH: There was one we did — it wasn’t last year, but the year before last — it was, I think, "The Two Live Crew Job," and it was one that had Wil Wheaton and Griffin Dunne in it. That was a lot of fun. Another one, the season 2 finale, which had Richard Kind. It took place on a big freighter, and it’s the one that ends with Nate Ford saying, “My name’s Nate Ford, and I’m a thief.” Then last year there were a bunch of them. It’s hard to kind of single any out, because each one really has been such a blast to film.
CE: One of the things I like about this crop of dramas on these cable stations, especially TNT, is you guys can do more and explore more than dramas on the basic networks can. Is that a quality that attracted you to the project in the first place?
TH: Yes, definitely. I felt that TNT had a really great track record with "Saving Grace" and "The Closer." The way those shows, they just seemed to have an interesting way in which the stories were told, and they seemed to be not formulaic, and I especially liked the way that those shows were supported. You could tell that the network really got behind the programming and presented those shows in a really wonderful way.
So there was that, and combined with the script of "Leverage" and the character of Nate Ford, and then added to that John Rogers being the main writer and Dean Devlin being the producer and the one who was going to direct the pilot, and it all added up to having everything in place for it to be a great show. I can’t believe we are in the fourth year already. It has flown by.
Q and A: Week of June 20
Q: I love “Army Wives.” This past season was especially phenomenal. I can’t believe Frank and Denise lost their son, Jeremy. It really broke my heart. How did the cast handle shooting those scenes? — Sally D., Columbus, OhioA: You can bet those scenes were absolute torture to film. I spoke with Brigid Brannagh, who plays Pamela on the hit series, and she gave me the scoop: “We were all like, ‘Make this episode stop.’ It was so upsetting. And I’ve been to enough funerals where ‘Taps’ was played, and just hearing that song evokes so many things. It’s impossible not to feel completely consumed with melancholy when ‘Taps’ comes on.
We’ve met all these soldiers, heard stories and met people who have lost soldiers,” she said. “We’ve been so surrounded by this world, by this military Army life for all of these years, that you just think about a soldier that you love gone, and he’s just a boy. It tore all of us up. Watching Terry Serpico (who plays Jeremy’s father) walk in and trying not to cry — oh my God, it was terrible. It was just heart wrenching all the time. But we all really appreciated what it was. It was just a long day shoot.”
Q: My sister and I want to know what happened to our favorite show, “Bleep My Dad Says.” Will it be back, and if so, when? — Linda P., via e-mail
Q: What happened to “Human Target”? It just disappeared from TV. — Carol S., via e-mail
Q: Is it true that “Brothers and Sisters” and “Off the Map” are both being canceled next season? I hope not, as I am a big fan of both of them. — Sharon M. in California
Q: Have you heard if another network has picked up “Detroit 1-8-7″ or “Body of Proof”? They both were both fabulous. — Lee K., via e-mail
A: To answer all of your questions in one fell swoop, ABC has renewed the Dana Delany medical drama “Body of Proof.” However, the other shows mentioned weren’t so lucky and have been canceled. You can get a full rundown of which shows are returning, along with which new shows have been picked up at www.celebrityextraonline.com.
Q: What is my favorite dancer, Derek Hough, doing? Why wasn’t he on this spring’s season of “Dancing With the Stars”? — Marilyn S., via e-mail
A: Derek, 26, took a break from the hit dancing show to focus on his acting and singing career, much like sister Julianne. He guest-starred on an episode of “Better With You” and is slated to star in the movie “Cobu 3D.” He also is in a band with fellow “DWTS” dancer Mark Ballas, called the Ballas Hough Band, which released its first record in March 2009. Fun fact: He played the uncredited role, Hogwarts schoolboy, in “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”
New Deathly Hallows Part 2 Trailer!
Warner Brothers has released another new Deathly Hallows, Part 2 trailer. Click the pic below:
Interview: Kim Cattrall's Freeing Role of Monica Velour
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| Kim Cattrall at and event for ICBINB |
When I caught up with Kim recently, she told me all about her new ad campaign for I Can't Believe It's Not Butter, which you know is going to be smart and sassy if Kim is involved. She also spoke about her new movie, "Meet Monica Velour," which is sure to amaze and surprise even the most die-hard Kim Cattrall fans.
Celebrity Extra: How did your relationship with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter come about, and what made you decide to become involved with the campaign?
Kim Cattrall: They approached me with a specific idea for the campaign, which I thought was terrific. A woman who says, “Now you can have it all.” I like that slogan. I think that’s really a great place to start. And they brought on Pam Thomas to direct the spots, who I worked with on "Sex and the City." And, you know, I am a woman who doesn’t want to compromise on taste in any shape or form. I thought these were playful and fun and smart, and we shot them like that. Pam and I know each other so well that she just really allowed me to play and make it my own and improvise, which I love to do and which was part of "Sex and the City" a lot.
CE: Which were some of your favorite of the commercials to film?
KC: Well, I loved the French toast one where I slap him. That really makes me happy, because he didn’t know it was coming and poor, poor guy, he didn’t speak a lot of English. I think he was sort of, “Oh my gosh, she’s upset!”
I love to work with actors and just be right there in the moment, and they don’t know what is going to happen. It’s a very exciting place to be. So, that was one of my favorites doing that. We shot them in Argentina, which is very exotic and fun. It was about four days and it was really hot — really, really hot. But I love the spots. I think that Pam and the agency did a really good job of the message, and also just the playfulness and the lightness of it which is good.
CE: You don't strike me as a woman who would vouch for a product if she didn't like it herself, so I assume you use ICBINB?
KC: Yes, that's true, and I do use it. It’s a really good product, not just dietary-wise but health-wise. It has 0 grams of trans fat, which is fantastic, and I like the flavor of it. I like the spray and cook with it. There are a lot of uses. It is in my arsenal of things that are dietary but also really healthy for me. I really like the product. It’s easy for me.
CE: You had to gain some weight for your role in "Meet Monica Velour"; did ICBINB help you shed some of those pounds when the filming was over?
KC: Actually, yes. It helped me lose the weight after I finished the movie, because of the caloric intake I do, as I said before, I like the taste of real butter.
But putting the weight on was just a fantastic moment in my life having been on diets since like 1976. It was really nice to take six weeks off and eat whatever I wanted. What was shocking to me is how quickly I put the weight on. It was like my body so wanted to go there. I kept saying: “This is my job. I have to do this. I really have to eat. I have to eat the cheeseballs, I really do.”
And then when we finished filming, I’d been offered this Roman Polanski film where I was supposed to be svelte. I thought, “Okay, here we go — back on the horse.” And I really was just saddle sore, thinking: “Oh my gosh, I’ve got to get out of bed. I’ve got to exercise.” But now I’m back in the groove again, and it’s not so bad.
CE: Speaking of "The Ghost Writer," I love that you have the choices to be in a smaller indie film, a big-budget "Sex and the City" blockbuster, theater and commercials. How do you choose which will be your next project when there are so many to choose from?
KC: For me, it starts with the script. I think the common ground between "Monica Velour" and "The Ghost Writer," and even something for PBS like "Any Human Heart," is the script. It also depends on who’s directing it, because that is his or her vision, and you’ve got to be on board with what that vision is.
Sometimes there’s no real rehearsal. You kind of work alone, and then you come on the set to film. In all of these cases it was very collaborative, especially "Monica Velour," because we had a first-time director. What I love about first-time directors is they sometimes don’t know that they can’t do something. They just do it anyway. That’s kind of exciting, because there really are no written laws of how to make a movie. Yes, there is a narrative and everything else, but what the camera sees and how you tell that story is uniquely yours, and that’s what Keith had in spades — Keith Bearden, our director. And also to work with someone like Jim Broadbent on "Any Human Heart" was a huge thrill, or Roman Polanski or Ewan McGregor (on "The Ghost Writer), who is a terrific guy. So, I’ve had really good experience based on just saying no to things that are pale imitations of roads that I have traveled many times.
CE: You've been getting rave reviews for your gritty and moving portrayal of an aging porn star in "Meet Monica Velour," and it is such a departure from the roles fans are used to seeing you in. What attracted you to the role?
KC: It was uncompromising, multidimensional, and not a hooker with a heart of gold, which I was just so sick of. You know, Hollywood's version of a porn star. No, this was a woman who’s in a trailer park in Indiana fighting for the custody of her daughter. It’s real. She’s just a work horse. She’s just like a mule, a sex mule. And where do these women go when they are done and they’re not so pretty anymore and not so perky?
The same thing happens in Hollywood, it’s just a bigger version, a dramatized version of what happens to women in general. And not just show business, but many businesses. There’s like an out-of-date stamp after a while. I remember doing a film in my mid-30s, "The Bonfire of the Vanities," and a man called Vilmos Zsigmond, who’s a very famous cinematographer and was our DP, and he was complaining about having to light myself and Melanie Griffith because we were in our 30s. And you know, you just have to look at that and say: “That’s ridiculous. What a misogynistic thing to say!” Light a woman. It’s your laziness that’s not getting this done. He never said that to me on the set. I read it in a book called "The Devil’s Candy" that was written after the making of the film.
But anyway, I digress. What I’m saying basically is it’s a tough business, and this woman (Monica Velour) is in the gutter, and I wanted to get inside of that, because I always play such a strong, powerful woman. What about a woman who doesn’t have any of those choices? Doesn’t have any of those opportunities? Where does she go? How does she survive? And I’ve never been given a role like that. I never fought for a role like that. And I’ve never wanted a role like that because it’s scary. I was 51 at the time we shot it, and they’re making you look overweight and aged, and you’ve got all of that to contend with. I never looked at the dailies. I just kept being bolstered along by — I saw this film called "Notes on a Scandal" with Judi Dench and she was nude in her 70s in a bathtub. And I just thought, “You know what, if Judi Dench can do that, I can get over myself.” Which I did, and when I see the film now, it doesn’t scare me as much. The first time it was jaw-dropping, but it’s the truth. It was also freeing at the same time. I want to get rid of that image of the babydoll perfect Barbie. It’s not interesting to me.
CE: This seems like the kind of role that you'd approach similarly to how you might approach a stage role ...
KC: Yes, definitely. I approached this like a theatre actor, which was I rehearsed sometimes with Keith sometimes without. I got other actors together just to run the scenes. There was heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy dialogue, and I knew if I slipped up for a minute with the voice — because I lowered my voice for the role and hunched over — if I knew for a moment that Kim got in there, it would break the illusions of Monica, and that was not going to happen. I was so passionate about that not happening.
CE: You were recently honored by GLAAD with the Golden Gate Award for your work in increasing the understanding and visibility of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. This must be quite and honor for you, and you must be so excited!
KC: Oh, I’m thrilled. I’m so thrilled. Gay men and women have been supportive of my career from the very beginning, and for them to give me this award is truly a wonderful moment. I am such a fan of what GLAAD does, and they need even more support. To have my name linked with them makes me feel very proud.
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